Touring - Jobs and touring (and budgets too)

What kind of jobs do you guys have that allow you to take off for a month/months at a time to tour?

I've been tossing around ideas in my head about spending a few months next summer doing a tour through the US. I have a 9-5 that's not bad for a desk job but it's just that: a desk job. I'm about through with sitting in a cube in front of a computer day after day.

My parents have a grad school fund saved up for me and I'm thinking about taking advantage of that starting next fall, and if I play my cards right I could quit my job in spring, take off for most of the summer, and make it back just in time to get started with school. I've been trying to save up money so that I can maybe, actually pull this off.

Which leads to another question: What kind of a budget does touring require?

I would be doing the stealth camping/campground thing most of the time. So hopefully not spending anything on lodging most of the time and not spending much on it at all, if I was going to. What is a realistic food budget? What about repairs and replacement gear?

If anyone's interested the route I have in mind would start in VT and pass through Toronto, Madison and Chicago, for a start and then I'd like to hit kentucky, tennessee, the mississippi delta, and back up through SC, NC, VA and WV if possible. You get the idea. I have never been down south and I have loved delta blues, bluegrass, and appalaichan mountain music for years.

Thanks for any insight or advice you guys might have for me!

What kind of jobs do you guys have that allow you to take off for a month/months at a time to tour?



By stereotype most of us touring guys are teachers, since we have the summers off. I was a college prof for a long time. Now I am self employed as a stock market trader. I don't make alot of money at it (it pays the bills, yadda yadda) but I am thinking of just putting a backpack on my back and hiking around the country--in the south in the winter, north in the summer.

If you wild camp you can reduce the cost of your touring to food and maintenance. I spend alot of money on food and am irresistably drawn to cafe breakfasts (especially at truck stops ;) ); but you can do fine just eating breakfast, lunch and dinner out of grocery stores. Breakfast can be granola/yogurt/orange juice/bread/bagels in some permutation. Lunch tends to be Ham, cheese and italian bread for me. Dinner is pasta cooked at my campsite if I have water nearby; or more sandwiches type stuff if I don't.

roughstuff

Science, baby! If I don't think it up, it don't happen. Plus I've been at my job so long that they give me 240 hours per year, if I don't use it I lose it, and they only let me accrue it to 250 hours. I ain't lettin' nobody take my vacation time :mad: :D

What kind of jobs do you guys have that allow you to take off for a month/months at a time to tour?
I may be wrong, but I believe a fair percentage of the people who tour for months at a time either quit their jobs to tour, or are retired. It isn't hard to cover up a few months' unemployment on a resume. ;)

My wife and I are quitting our jobs, leaving our apartment, heading out!
We've been working 2 jobs each to save up some extra money, but plan
on camping alot to keep it cheap. Also we'll be in countries where the cost
of living is much cheaper than in the USA. That helps!

This is of course easier because we have no morgage, no kids, etc.
I imagine it will be hard for both of us to do this together any time after
we start our family (until of course they're old enough to come with us!)
-az

Touring can be expensive...but i think money is more a state of mind than anything else. It doesn't take a whole lot of money to keep your legs pumping. While i'd love to have $5,000 or $10,000 dollars of surplus to just zing around on my bike for a while. I'll take what i can get.

I don't really have any ties to anything though. I cut them to go touring. nothing is worth more than finding/creating/knowing yourself. not even a 9-5. so while I have my random jobs (mostly bartending/singing/promotional work/acting) I keep in mind what's important, and it makes everything else easier.

I also don't really do "vacation" touring. I tour to get to something not away from it...and we all know well that touring isn't fun and games 24/7. I can't really put a price on my own happiness or growth. If you really want to go...you will find a way, or it will find you.

sorry if this was strident and sappy guys and gals...that's just my current state.

I freelance, so I work when I have to.
It's worked out very well for me.

We just saved, saved, saved for 6 years. Now we reckon we have enough to travel for up to 4 years frugally, although that will likely be more like 2 years as we like a few luxuries and don´t want to be out of the job market quite as long as 4 years. We had professional jobs, but not mega-earners. That is to say, slightly above average but no massive bonuses or 6-figure salaries. We just lived very simply, less meat, no gadgets, definitely weren´t slaves to fashion. Also, remember you can live pretty cheaply on the road assuming you aren´t financing a mortgage back home. For two of us, we spend maybe a little under $20/day for food on the road, including a bottle of pop or other treats here and there. Another guy we met going through Canada was spending $12/day on food from a supermarket. You can WWOOF too to cut down costs, if you´re interested in that experience.

thanks for your replies, it's interesting to hear how everyone's pulled it off. I have also thought of WWooffing- I actually started a thread on that awhile ago. I have done it before but not by bike.
I have thought about the teaching profession many times and have a suspicion that it is where I'll end up. My parents are both profs and so are/were many of my relatives. I do know that any job that keeps me in a cube all day is not one I am going to be able to keep up for very long.

I've heard people also get jobs along the road...though i don't know how viable that is... anyone have experience in this?

I teach. That gives me two and a half months in the summer.

When I was a starving college student I toured on the cheap. I never paid for camping - I'd set out my poncho on the ground somewhere in the woods (often in a state park's picnic area) as it was getting dark. I ate tuna fish, beans, canned corn, beef jerky, etc.

Now I camp and pay for it - mostly in hiker/biker spots on the west coast, with occasional KOA's. I also save some money for motels from time to time - especially if the weather gets really bad, or if there isn't a campground in a good spot.

When I camp I spend around $30 a day. I eat two breakfasts every day - oatmeal or bagels in the campground, then a second breakfast at a restaurant. Sandwiches for lunch at a grocery store deli, or Taco Bell, or anything I can find. I usually cook my own dinner at the campground. I like to get off the bike around 3:30-ish. Once I get to the campground I don't want to ride anymore, so I don't want to ride someplace to eat dinner. I carry a stove and small mess kit for coffee and dinner - often a can of chili and a bag of salad, or I buy some cooked chicken at a grocery store and mix it with vegetables and ramen for chicken soup.

If I have to stay in a motel, that adds to the cost per day. And if I stay in a motel I eat dinner in a restaurant. I don't want to use my gas stove in the room. Motels, obviously, add quite a bit of cost to the day. The $30 per day average goes up quickly if I stay in motels very often.

As I get older and my salary goes up, I have a little more money each summer for touring. When I retire in 10 years, I won't have nearly as much income, but I'll have paid off the house, both cars, and my kids will be out of the house, finished with college, and on their own. I think I'll have enough money for longer tours with more motel rooms. I hope!

I'm a computer programmer with a large company. Their HR policies include a provision for an unpaid leave of absence. I've taken advantage of this policy a couple times and plan to again next summer. Folks complain about working for big corporations, but there are some advantages.

Freelance teacher. :D

I freelance, so I work when I have to.
It's worked out very well for me.

Same here :D

Fantastic thread Maximusvt ! Its inspirational and encouraging for me to hear about how people do it. Especially responses like RoughStuff who sounds like he's a day trader who going to drop out and go walk about.

.....
cheers!

We'll just have to see. I couldn/t be a 'day trader' and walk about, especially in the wilderness...since us day traders often have to watch the SP500 (or the SPYders, as we call them) most of the day. I am right now, in fact, in another window.

But I could be a position trader and longer term investor. After all I would be hiking and there would be plenty of libraries with the Value Line Investment Survey along the way, where I could do some basic research. That and a blackberry (or a wifi laptop, if i want to carry more weight) and I could hit the road forever. As I have said in other threads, this reduces your cost of living to the cost of food; and that bane of self employment, medical insurance. At least hiking you'd be healthy.

roughstuff

I had a nice, stable, decent-paying job, with a decent company, in a decent city ....... and I could have probably stayed at in that city at that company doing exactly what I was doing for the rest of my life.

But I wanted more!!

So I quit my job ... sold, tossed, and packed up all my things (I got rid of probably about half my stuff) ... moved what I had left two provinces over and dropped it off at my parent's place.

Then I headed off to Australia with my bicycle and some panniers to cycle for three months.

When I returned, I got a temporary job doing basically what I had been doing before, for the same pay as I had before, for a different company in a slightly different field than my previous job, for 6 months ... I got the chance to learn a few new things! Then I started University to get my Bachelor of Education. During this past summer, I got another temporary job, for the same pay as I had before, for a different branch of the field I'm trained in ... and I got the chance to learn a lot of new things! I'm back in University now.

Sometimes you've just got to take a chance ...... and the whole temporary employment thing seems to be working very well for me!!

Freelance teacher. :D

ESL? or something different? Pls. explain.

ESL? or something different? Pls. explain.

Yep, teaching English to professionals at banks and other companies. Got no boss (except the wife :D ), work 3 days a week, and have about 3 full months off each year.

Yep, teaching English to professionals at banks and other companies. Got no boss (except the wife :D ), work 3 days a week, and have about 3 full months off each year.


And that's exactly the type of thing I want to get into ... what I'm working toward right now.

Freelance computer programming works great for this...
You can "bulk up" on hours when you are working (>40 per week, either by putting in extra hours on 1 project, or taking in multiple projects), then choose weeks or months during the year when you are "unavailable for work" ---> e.g. off on your bike. You just have to align projects to leave a large enough gap in between, and try to keep your clients happy and out of crisis while you're gone. [Helps to be able to recommend another programmer/friend/etc. who can do hand-holding with them while you're gone in case anything unexpected pops up.]
Another bonus ---> no real physical infrastructure or "locality" requirement for doing your work --> easier to work remotely, or change your work location (to another town/city) at the drop of a hat.
I have been freelancing for 3 1/2 years, and have taken 1-2 months off each year. Earlier years I wound up in E. Europe for 1-2 months, and took my laptop with me... worked part time, traveled part time. Kind of a "working vacation" that paid for itself. I even once got to upload a final code build while huddled in the toilet of a Hungarian train while crossing the Slovakian/Hungarian border, so as to be able to plug into the only available power socket for my dying batteries, with a Czech SIM card in my phone uploading over a fading GPRS signal roaming on the last Slovakian cell phone tower that was fast receding over the horizon.... BUT ---> magically that build made it through to the US and was the one used to launch the product ;> (Don't recommend it if you're not a panic junky).

Lately I prefer to keep work and travel more hygencially separated from each other, so this vacation around I'm only cycling, not working.

But ---> depending on how you set it up, freelance computer work can combine very flexibly with a cycling lifestyle .

Sam

Amanda and I quit our corporate jobs six years ago.... we were in our early 30's.

We traveled for three years then wrote a book about our travels.... Wide-Eyed Wanderers (http://www.vwvagabonds.com/Book.html). We started a publishing company and self-published the book, the only way to actally make money in publishing these days unless you are Dan Brown. The last year was spent speaking about our journey and promoting the book. We've nearly sold out the first edition.

A few months ago National Geographic Adventure (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/photography/adventure-dreams/road-trip/lessons-learned.html) found our web site and wrote and article about us. The article has generated quiet a bit of interest in our web site and now the google adsence advertising on our site generates a bit of revenue.

So our income trickles in from a few sources. While none of this is making us wealthy we certainly are richer for the experience

http://www.vwvagabonds.com/FrontCover.jpg

From National Geographic Adventure (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/photography/adventure-dreams/road-trip/lessons-learned.html)

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/images/0610/road-trip-4.jpg

OP, I think your plan is fabulous. I remember quitting my job to go to grad school...best thing I could have done.

I'm doing it the hard way....taking time w/o pay. I can't take off months at a time, but, 1 month is better than 1 week. I like my job and my career too much to give it up, otherwise, I would.

Check back with me in a couple years, though. ;)

My wife and I are quitting our jobs soon to tour for around 4 months. She'll then head to grad school. I'd like to do some sort of work in which telecommuting is common. Freelance web design sounds nice.

I'm an electrician I work when I want, and leave when I want.

I'm "kind of retired" and having worked hard and saved I went and spent the kids inheritance on myself.

For many years( too many to recall here) I dreamed of South America, I am from England, so off I went to ride Patagonia.

Reality was better than the dream. Money well spent.

Now I have to "kind of work" again to finance a ride from the UK to China.

george

I'm "kind of retired" and having worked hard and saved I went and spent the kids inheritance on myself. For many years( too many to recall here) I dreamed of South America, I am from England, so off I went to ride Patagonia. Reality was better than the dream. Money well spent.


You have a fabulous webpage! What kind of tent is that? And by the way, don't convince my parents to do the same as you! :p

Freelance web design sounds nice.


Yes, but is there work in that area? I think a few years ago that was a hot job, but I'm not so sure it is anymore ....... but I could be wrong.

There's money in web design. Especially if you're near a large market. I see new job postings for Flash developers every day here in Toronto. If you're good, you'll have no problem finding work.

To the OP,

I quit my job to tour. I left in April last spring, crossed Canada, came home mid-august. I left with approximately $4000 in my bank account. I returned with nothing and $1100 on my visa. That was over 65 days of travel, $600 going towards airfare. I stealth camped as often as possible, and tried not to eat in restaurants too frequently. Touring is expensive, even if you're determined to travel frugally. Things come up. I'll admit that I pissed away a good amount at bars, but I regret nothing. You should over budget just to be safe.

One thing about stealth camping. It's not as easy as you might imagine. I traveled alone and I found stealth camping to be psychologically draining at times. If you put in a 9 hour day of riding in 32 degree heat, the last thing you want to do is scout out possible campsites for an hour. I would often leave it to an hour before dusk to try and find a place to crash, which can be hugely stressful if something doesn't turn up before dark. You mentioned traveling through Toronto. Southern Ontario is very densely populated. Unless you have balls of steel and are willing to crash out in public parks in full view, you will have great difficulty stealth camping along the north shore of Lake Ontario. This means you'll be spending on average $20-25 per night on campsites alone. That adds up. My point is basically stealth camping is amazing when the opportunity presents itself. Even sometimes you can force it if you lower your standards and take a "to hell with it" attitude. But some days, when it's raining or your back hurts or morale is bottom of the barrel, you will want something easy. And that easy comes at a price which often adds up.

Best of luck.

Freelancing web design is another good idea. Right now web design is half of my job, information technology and support is the other half. But I only work for one client, and it's a full time job. I have never been much of an entrepreneur but it may be worth giving it a shot for the freedom it allows and trying to do it on a freelance basis.

Skinflute, I can imagine that stealth camping for extended periods of time can be really draining. My only experiences with it are around vermont and it's not hard to find a secluded spot that's comfortable enough to spend the night. Part of my reason for wanting to travel through some of the places I listed is because I have friends or family there, so there would be a place to stay and take a break for a few days in most of the major cities I would be travelling through. But ideally, I would hope to over-budget just so I didn't run into trouble.

I am pretty sure that I'm going to be taking some continuing ed courses next fall, and will give myself some good time in between to quit my job and take a real vacation of way more than just a week (haven't had one of those in years!). I just got some money for my birthday and I'm probably gonna spend it overhauling my bike during the winter months while I'm not riding it anyway.

One thing about stealth camping. It's not as easy as you might imagine. I traveled alone and I found stealth camping to be psychologically draining at times. If you put in a 9 hour day of riding in 32 degree heat, the last thing you want to do is scout out possible campsites for an hour.


This is a good point. In fact folks have pointed out to me that was i often do is not really stealth camping. In areas like this I often try and get permission to camp on qhat one might call quasi-public land. I have good luck at church grounds and churchyard/graveyards; rural fire department property (which is often volunteer FDs with some land around the site for training); railroad or high tension wire rights of way; etc. I start snooping for nice alternative camping sites when my shadow is long enough that it can reach the center line of the highway.

It does depend on where you are touring. I always tour in country/hilly/agricultural areas, and rarely, if ever, had trouble finding a hayfield, cornfield, or small copse where I could camp.

I found it psychologically draining in another way though: you are always alone. If you go to a formal camping site you probably see other bikers and fellow travelers. Thats why I usually stop in at a cafe or truck stop for breakfast...i need the chatter and conversation.

roughstuff

You have a fabulous webpage! What kind of tent is that? And by the way, don't convince my parents to do the same as you! :p

The tent is called Escape 4000 ( cos its got a 4000mm Hydration Head). Its a small single pole wedge and wieghs in at 1.3 KG. I got in an outdoor shop in England which had been bought out by a bigger firm. The manager of the shop gave me loads of deals when he found out what I was doing so it cost me £35 (about 60 dollars). And it is brilliant.

On the day the shop was closing , for refurbishment, he finally let me have a SUUNTO Observer watch I had been lusting over. RRP £200, I got it for £95.

If you give me your parents address, I can let them know of loads of ways to spend the money ;) :)

Thanks for the feed back on the website

george

Got my own business which I run with my wife. When I have had enough I just take off for 2-3 weeks and my wife runs the business. She is happy doing this as she does not want to tour, which is a shame. When she wants time out she has it as I do most of the work in the business. It works out well. My kids have grown and flown so a real long tour beckons....

What kind of job? I own my own small business that my wife runs when I am on a bike tour. Cost wise my son and I spent a crazy amount on our last tour and I still havent figured out where it all went. I suggest knowing clearly what you have to spend and staying on budget.

Also realize you will eat alot more than you do at home.

Im currently a 18 year old student but I graduate next spring and will have about 6000$ saved up (saved for several years).

Is to set off biking for as long as my savings last. Will always stealth camp as I don't fancy camp areas where you have to pay and would clean my stuff in lakes and such (have done it before many times but never abroad).

How long do you reckon my savings will last? I will be travelling mainly in asia where the living is pretty cheap. I figure that I will be able to live for around 10$ a day?

How long do you reckon my savings will last? I will be travelling mainly in asia where the living is pretty cheap. I figure that I will be able to live for around 10$ a day?

that much money will last a long time so long as you can stay healthy and not wind up having to go to ground with illness simply to recover enough to return home...

that much money will last a long time so long as you can stay healthy

A long time can mean many differnt things for many people :rolleyes: .. I sure hope I will like it, if I get tired I can always make it a short of about a month and return home for a while and then get back on the road again somewhere else.

One thing about stealth camping. It's not as easy as you might imagine. I traveled alone and I found stealth camping to be psychologically draining at times.


I agree!! Psychologically and physically draining. Stealth camping looks really good on paper, but I found it the most stressful part of my tours. Some of the difficulties I've encountered:

-- heavily populated areas (as mentioned above) reduce the number of potential camping spots, as do fenced areas with NO TRESPASSING signs everywhere, or areas with crocodile warning signs, and so on.

-- the only decent looking areas are "day-use only" and you've got to pitch after dark, leave before dawn, and be prepared to leave at any point during the night if an official comes by to kick you out.

-- the only decent looking areas are full of beer bottles and tire tracks and you end up sleeping with one eye open wondering if a party of drunks in trucks was going to come by in the middle of the night.

-- the only decent looking area is a tiny strip of grass behind a truck stop, and so you sleep between the noise of semis pulling in and out all night long, and with the apprehension that you'll be discovered and kicked out at any given moment.


For most of my stealth camping, I didn't end up pitching camp until well after dark so that no one would easily discover me, and then getting up and moving on before dawn. It's exhausting!!

I agree!!

-- the only decent looking area is a tiny strip of grass behind a truck stop,

For most of my stealth camping, I didn't end up pitching camp until well after dark so that no one would easily discover me, and then getting up and moving on before dawn. It's exhausting!!

You've gone touring in the wrong places or countries ;p. Leave the civilization behind and go on the less crowded roads. You meet nicer people,have better scenery and most likley more peace at night. Of course there's always some places that are a discomfort to pass but they can be avoided most times.

You've gone touring in the wrong places or countries ;p. Leave the civilization behind and go on the less crowded roads. You meet nicer people,have better scenery and most likley more peace at night. Of course there's always some places that are a discomfort to pass but they can be avoided most times.

This is rather presumptuous. I've been lurking on this board for over a year and can say with confidence that Machka is one of the more informed contributors to the touring forum.

You'll surely find respite from the bustle of human life off the beaten path, but you'll also encounter a slew of new concerns/dangers that can be equally disconcerting. Wildlife, availibilty of drinking water and food, and the potential for mechanical breakdown in remote areas can be just as troubling as those associated with traveling in developed regions.